ONONDAGA COUNTY – With the regular season winding down, area high school boys volleyball teams fine-tuned their skills in head-to-head matches of wildly varying difficulty.
And that included a local showdown between Jamesville-DeWitt and Fayetteville-Manlius, which only went three sets before the Red Rams were able to prevail.
Echoing its sweep of the Hornets on Sept. 22, J-D seemed to get all of the important runs and points, claiming the first set 25-21 and each of the next two sets by modest 25-20 margins.
Through it all, Luke McQuaid put away 14 kills, with Michael Ryan adding five kills and Aaron Ko four kills. Tim Cooper handed out 27 assists, with Ko getting a team-best six digs.
On F-M’s side, Connor Sugar’s 24 assists led to 10 kills from Chris Cleary, seven kills from Charles Addonizio and six kills from Kieran Egan. Cleary got 11 digs and Sean Kellish added nine digs.
Two nights earlier, F-M met up with reigning sectional Division II champion Living Word Academy and made two different comebacks to defeat the Lions in five sets.
Living Word won a close opening set 27-25 and took the third 25-20 after F-M won the second 25-19. As the fourth set wore on, though, the Hornets took charge, prevailing there 25-18.
In the final-set race to 15, F-M claimed it 15-10 as Cleary, with 24 kills, accounted for nearly a full set worth of points through his spikes.
Mike McAndrew got eight kills, with Max Danaher adding seven kills and Addonizio five kills to go with three aces, all fed by Sugar’s 45 assists as Kelish got seven digs.
Despite the loss, the Lions’ Matt Rudskiy amassed 51 assists, with Riddick Robinson earning 20 kills, Jack Connor 11 kills and Tali Connor 10 kills as Moses Thompson (eight kills) and Tyler Paddock (six kills) followed.
J-D, meanwhile, had defeated Syracuse in four sets last Monday, taking a 25-22, 15-25, 27-25, 25-19 decision.
Tim Cooper finished with 43 assists, passing it to Luke McQuaid, who gained 15 kills, his total just ahead of Aaron Ko’s 13 kills and Aidan Bates’ 10 kills. Avery Kielbasinski had four kills and four blocks.
Back in action Friday at Baldwinsville, F-M prevailed in four sets 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, not quite able to get a sweep, but still benefiting from a well-balanced front line.
Danaher had 12 kills and seven digs, with Cleary getting 11 kills and six digs. Addonizio had 10 kills and seven digs as McAndrew added five kills and Sugar recorded 38 assists.
East Syracuse Minoa was back on the court last Wednesday against Central Square, the Spartans jumping out 25-12 on the Redhawks in the first set and taking the next two sets 25-16 and 25-21.
Ben Clappin set a career mark with 11 aces, working on the back line with Donovan Randall, who got 28 assists, and Jacob Sehn, who had seven digs.
Tristan Henderson led ESM’s charge up front, putting away 14 kills. Cole Thomas had six kills, six digs, three aces and three assists, with Jayce Domres and Austin Betts each earning five kills, Domres adding two aces and six digs.
Then the Spartans managed to sweep Section Vs’ Wayne 25-11, 25-17, 25-20 to improve its overall record to 11-6 ahead of matches next week against F-M and Living Word Academy.
